ALY MORRISON'S "BUTTERFLY" ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF WARGAMES AND TOY SOLDIERS

Sunday, 19 April 2020

A Song of Blades and Bronze... Test Figures.

Greetings...


Okay ... First up... There is no such rule set as A Song of Blades and Bronze...


Mharaid and I have been talking for a while about starting up another small skirmish project...
Initially I had considered modifying A Song Of Drums And Shakos to have some games based on characters from the book (and TV series )Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.
We thought it would be interesting to add a bit of magic to the equation...


This vague plan took a little bit of a jump and a change of period when I was delving in the lead mountain and uncovered some Wargames Foundry's Bronze Age Northern Europeans, I immediately thought that this would be a nice period to play and paint... and it would fit into our ideas for adding a touch of the fantastical to things...
Who would they fight though ?
As it happened the next thing out of the mountain was some Wargames Foundry Sea Peoples...
Who is to say that the Sea Peoples or Achaeans didn't go north and encounter and raid the peoples they met... To be honest I haven't really done the research so maybe they did...
This now gives us two quite distinctive forces to fight our games... and the possibility of adding Minotaurs , Centaurs  , Medusa or a Cyclops...
We have done this before with our Xmas games when we introduced Krampus so there is nothing really new here...
I have a copy of Song of Blades and Heroes so we will probably use suitable rules from both sets...


Mharaid picked the Northern Europeans for her force so I have the Sea Peoples.


So here are the first two test figures...







Looking at what people think the Bronze Age Northern Europeans look like... It would appear that they were a bit dull... Brown with additional brown and some coloured edging... probably brown.


As we are going for a touch of the fantastical I decided to go for some subdued Plaid patterns and spiral tattoos...
The shield and standard designs are based vaguely on a Celtic Goose/Duck design that I found on the internet... For our purposes it will be a Goose... Mharaid talked of them worshipping a Giant Goose.


I decided to gloss these as it brings out the colours of the plaid a bit better... and I like shiny things...


I look forward to eventually getting some games in with these and the Lion Rampant collection... After all... Variety is the spice of inevitable slaughter...


The miniatures are...
https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/european-bronze-age-scandanavia-north-west-europe-1600-bc


The bases are...
https://warbases.co.uk/product-category/bases/round-cornered-bases/


I have a couple of Sea Peoples in the current queue... but for now it is back to Sassanids and Napoleonics...


All the best   Aly




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42 comments:

  1. StuartInsch19 April 2020 at 15:25

    Lovely, especially the goose.

    And spooky too. Some chums and I are about to embark on a D&D game tomorrow night (my first in 30+ yrs!!!) and I've set it in a fantasy North European Bronze Age in non submerged doggerland.

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    1. Aly Morrison19 April 2020 at 15:59

      Thank you Stuart...
      That is such a splendid coincidence...
      Feel free to introduce giant goose gods...😂

      All the best. Aly

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  2. Jonathan Freitag19 April 2020 at 15:26

    Bronze Age warriors in tartan? I love it! Great work on your test figures.

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    1. Aly Morrison19 April 2020 at 16:01

      Thank you Jonathan...

      Yes Tartan and spiral tattoos... you can tell that this is not going to be a quick project.

      All the best. Aly

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  3. Rob Young19 April 2020 at 16:17

    May not be quick but certainly looks good.

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  4. Unlucky General19 April 2020 at 17:45

    I really like the shield and totem designs. How did you create them? Are they painted on or are they decals?

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    1. Aly Morrison19 April 2020 at 18:18

      Thank you...
      The designs are all hand painted...
      I took the original image from the internet and redrew it a number of times on paper, simplify the design as I went.
      When I got and image that I new I could repeat with relative ease I tried it out using a fine pencil on the actual models...
      Then it was just a case of a small brush a steady-ish hand and patience ��...

      All the best. Aly

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  5. tradgardmastare19 April 2020 at 17:52

    Currently starting a Tony Bathesque campaign using 30mm flats including some of the Nordic Bronze Age including Lur players. It is a fascinating period (see the culture’s material remains in the National Museum of Denmark so enthused me about it) and the Foundry figures are lovely. Your trial figures are excellent. I look forward to seeing where you take your project.

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    1. Aly Morrison19 April 2020 at 18:21

      Splendid sir...
      It is becoming clear that we are not alone in our slightly fantastical ideas...

      All the best. Aly

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  6. TWD19 April 2020 at 18:23

    You should have a look at 'Of God's and Mortals', Aly. Same "engine" and author as SoBH but adds in mythological monsters and gods.
    Tom

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    1. Aly Morrison19 April 2020 at 20:16

      Thank you Tom...
      The book is now ordered...
      Isn’t that the game that James and you put on last year...?

      All the best. Aly

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    2. TWD19 April 2020 at 22:46

      Indeed so. There's pantheons for Norse, Celts, Egyptian and Greeks in the book, but also a complete system for building your own gods. So I look forward to seeing the Goose god made flesh :) if only for the inevitable "cooked his goose" gags when it gets killed.

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  7. Phil Robinson19 April 2020 at 19:14

    Splendid idea, shall follow with interest. Good move on the clothing patterns, you will not get browned off before the end🙂

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    1. Aly Morrison19 April 2020 at 20:18

      Thank you Phil...

      You do know you should have someone to keep you in check...🤪

      All the best. Aly

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    2. Phil Robinson19 April 2020 at 23:14

      Touché 😂

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  8. Moiterei_198419 April 2020 at 19:23

    Very well done Aly! That goose design looks splendid. A great rang by Foundry. Sadly a bit embryonic for modern expectations though.

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    1. Aly Morrison19 April 2020 at 20:23

      Thank you Nick...
      It’s a lovely little range... Michael Perry built some lovely terrain and a waterside settlement, we had a few enjoyable games... I think it suffered/suffers from it not being easy to fit it into a bigger world...

      All the best. Aly

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  9. rross19 April 2020 at 19:33

    These are very nice Aly and whenever I have come across this range...in old back numbers of WI or browsing the net, I have often thought.."HM, that would be a nice range...." Funnily enough, I have been looking through some old WI mags a friend gave me just before lockdown and there were two "articles" there by an SW Yeardley, bemoaning the state if wargaming, the cost of figures, and the elitist manufacturers introducing more and more obscure periods, just so they can con poor gamers out of their hard earned cash...actually there seemed to be quite a bit of this attitude around in the late 90's, judging by the letters pages and other articles I have seen. The grumpy old git SW actually singled out Foundry Bronze Age (newly released at the time) for his opprobrium ....maybe the fact that you are only painting these now, 25 years after they were first cast, indicates there might have been some truth in his whinging!

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    1. Aly Morrison19 April 2020 at 20:36

      Thank you Keith...
      I think that there are probably people in the world who’s hobby is bemoaning their own hobby...
      One of the advantages and disadvantages of knowing Alan and Michael is that they are so productive that often you don’t need to paint lots of toys to play certain periods because they already have what is needed...which makes me a very lucky fellow... thank you guys. ��
      This is what has happened here I am now painting some up because I have an uncontrollable butterfly that wants to do its own shiny thing...��
      25 years... doesn’t time fly...

      All the best. Aly

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  10. Springinsfeld19 April 2020 at 20:16

    Bloomin marvellous painting, and a nice thick coat of yacht? Varnish. Really is a fascinating period. Look forward to seeing the goose god...

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    1. Aly Morrison19 April 2020 at 20:38

      Thank you...
      Yes yacht varnish...
      It should be a lot of fun... even I don’t know what’s going to happen with The Goose...😁
      All the best. Aly

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    2. Springinsfeld19 April 2020 at 20:52

      It'll lay golden eggs I should think. Cheers Mike

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    3. Aly Morrison19 April 2020 at 21:02

      Now there’s an idea for a scenario... 😁

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  11. Natholeon19 April 2020 at 21:42

    They are fantastic little figures, and I'm blown away by the painting of the plaid. Song of Blades and Heroes is a my go-to game for small skirmishes and to add in some supernatural elements. I used it for the Song of Broken Legions games that I played. An example is here: https://natholeonsempires.blogspot.com/2017/10/save-senators-daughter-sbl-6-x-6-aar.html if you wanted to have a look.

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    1. Aly Morrison19 April 2020 at 22:34

      Thank you Nate...

      We have had a lot of fun with Drums and Shakos so I am very drawn to games using the same mechanics...
      Your game looked and sounded exactly like the kind of thing we want...

      All the best. Aly

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  12. Phil20 April 2020 at 06:20

    Gorgeous figures, unusual and splendid...love the artistic patterns...

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    1. Aly Morrison20 April 2020 at 10:26

      Thank you very much Phil...

      All the best. Aly

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  13. Matt Crump20 April 2020 at 07:37

    Beautiful painting Aly. Your care on the ‘tartan’ type pattern and the goose are outstanding. I just don’t have the patience and concentration. I think knowledge of this period in terms of look/ colour is very thin on the ground so you can go with anything you like, they would have had access to plenty of dye.

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    1. Aly Morrison20 April 2020 at 10:38

      Thank you Matt...
      You are of course correct on the amount of detailed information on this era...
      This does however make it perfect for this Fantastical/Historical type of project...

      Having just finished listening to Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf I am now very tempted to add Grendel into the mix of potential monsters.

      All the best. Aly

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  14. David20 April 2020 at 08:23

    I hear fluttering! Nice work there though, especially on the designs.

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    1. Aly Morrison20 April 2020 at 10:40

      Thank you very much David...

      I always hear fluttering 😂

      All the best. Aly

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  15. caveadsum147120 April 2020 at 16:35

    Lovely bronze age types! I like the tartan and the spiral pattern! If you can have the sea people, you could have a refugee trojan prince with entourage pursued by Achaeans, mmm chariots!
    Best Iain

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    1. Aly Morrison22 April 2020 at 13:18

      Thank you Iain...

      The Trojan angle would certainly make for some interesting scenarios...

      All the best. Aly

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  16. Paul Scrivens-Smith20 April 2020 at 17:42

    Lovely stuff, I do like the goose work.

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    1. Aly Morrison22 April 2020 at 13:22

      Thank you Paul...
      It took a couple of goes to get the look I wanted...but I now think that I can repeat it fairly easily...

      All the best. Aly

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  17. (Kym) + Warburton + (Classic40K) 21 April 2020 at 00:20

    Very very nice, I like the tattoos, the tartan, and the gloss varnish. I'm no expert on this era, or even an amateur, but I would have thought they had green and yellow natural dyes for their clothes, in addition to the brown!

    Kym

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    1. Aly Morrison22 April 2020 at 13:28

      Thank you Kym...
      I think that I will stick with the more muted tones for the northerners... though this doesn’t count out various yellows and greens...
      The southerners are going to be in brighter more primary shades... which will make a nice visual difference between the two sides.

      All the best. Aly

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  18. James Fisher21 April 2020 at 00:38

    They look great Aly, I really like the shade of bronze that you have achieved.

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    1. Aly Morrison22 April 2020 at 13:32

      Thank you James...

      The bronze is Citadel Retributor Armour which has had a wash of Seraphim Sepia followed by a wash of good old Aly’s Brown Liquid...
      Highlights were done using Retributor and Retributor plus silver...

      All the best. Aly

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  19. Carlo23 April 2020 at 01:58

    Beautiful work as always Aly and I am glad to see that my question of what bronze has been answered in the comments. Many thanks.

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